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Red Dog, Red Dog (Hardcover)

by Patrick Lane (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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  • This item: Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane

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    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (7 May 2009)
  • ISBN-10: 0434019984
  • ISBN-13: 978-0434019984
  • Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 317,272 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, "Red Dog, Red Dog" unfolds over the course of one week in and around a small town in British Columbia in 1958, with stories arcing back in time to the 1920s and '30s. The novel centres on the Stark family. There is Elmer, a violent man with a troubled past; Lillian, who married Elmer shortly after the Depression, and who finds herself retreating steadily into isolation; their sons, Tom and Eddy, now in their twenties, are bound together by the secrets of their childhood years. Unrepentant, Eddy speeds freely along his reckless path, defiant and vulnerable. Tom, a loner, tries to make out of the fragments of the past a story that can explain the way things are. Then one night at a party, Eddy goes too far, and a spiral of events is set in motion, leading to the novel's last, dramatic moments. Narrated in part by one of the dead infant daughters Elmer has buried, the novel is about hardship and loss, revenge and ancient loyalties, about the sweetness of first love and the power of memory. A richly textured portrait of a time and a place, filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking descriptions of the natural world, "Red Dog, Red Dog" is a deeply moving novel that explores the legacies of the past and the possibilities of salvation.


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An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog unfolds over the course of one week in and around a small town in British Columbia in 1958, with stories arcing back in time to the 1920s and ’30s.

The novel centres on the Stark family. There is Elmer, a violent man with a troubled past; Lillian, who married Elmer shortly after the Depression, and who finds herself retreating steadily into isolation; their sons, Tom and Eddy, now in their twenties, are bound together by the secrets of their childhood years. Unrepentant, Eddy speeds freely along his reckless path, defiant and vulnerable. Tom, a loner, tries to make out of the fragments of the past a story that can explain the way things are. Then one night at a party, Eddy goes too far, and a spiral of events is set in motion, leading to the novel’s last, dramatic moments.

Narrated in part by one of the dead infant daughters Elmer has buried, the novel is about hardship and loss, revenge and ancient loyalties, about the sweetness of first love and the power of memory. A richly textured portrait of a time and a place, filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking descriptions of the natural world, Red Dog, Red Dog is a deeply moving novel that explores the legacies of the past and the possibilities of salvation.

One of Canada’s most highly acclaimed poets, and author of an award-winning memoir, Patrick Lane, with this astonishing debut, suddenly introduces himself as a major novelist.

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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Poetic but flawed, 22 Sep 2009
Red Dog Red Dog describes the lives of the dysfunctional Stark family over the period of a week in fifties Canada.

The main thrust of the narrative follows brothers, Tom and Eddy, through a party at their isolated farmhouse and then charts the tragic repercussions of the events of the evening.

Patrick Lane is a well respected poet in Canada and this shows through in the complex and challenging prose. He draws the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia in such an exquisite way that it is easy to get drawn into the unforgiving, but stunning landscape.

This is a story that is concerned with the complexity of family relationships, and in particular the way in which the faults of the parents can be carried down to the children.

The main problem that I have with the book is that the poetry of the language sometimes obscures the narrative drive. Whilst the intricacy of the descriptions of the region help to root the characters in time and place it also distracts from truly learning their motivations and in the end creates distance between us and them.

Some of the book is narrated by one of the dead daughters of the family and towards the start of the book these passages are particularly strong. In the later stages however, they become less frequent and this gives the impression that it is simply a tool used to impart information that the other main characters couldn't know, rather than for any deeper reason.

Eddy is an interestingly doomed character, but Tom seems to me too passive, which is a shame, because their relationship promises much.

Overall the quality of writing is as superb as you would expect from a poet of his standard, but I think finally that the premise and the writing is a little more accomplished than the plot and structure.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Lyricism and Hearbreak in British Columbia, 1 Sep 2009
By E. Pinfield (Dorset, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Red Dog, Red Dog (Hardcover)
Patrick Lane is apparantly well known in British Columbia, Canada as a poet but "Red Dog, Red Dog" is his first novel. It is set in the 1950's in and around a small town close to the northern end of the vast Okanagan Lake, an area both poor and unpopulated at this time. The lives of the characters are far removed from the more well known cities such as Vancouver, Calgary etc. The novel centres on the Stark family, cruelly dysfunctional and marked by generational tragedy. Narrated in part by the dead baby daughter (one of three) who lies buried in the garden, a victim of neglect and some kind of puerperal madness affecting the mother who only has feelings for her eldest son Eddie. Eddie,sent away to reform school in Vancouver as a young teenager, returns to his roots and seeks revenge on the local cop who previously brutalised him. Tom, the younger,cruelly neglected son, seems to take on responsibility for his wild elder brother and reclusive mother. He has strong feelings for the dead baby girls buried in the garden, he accepts his neglected and abusive childhood and does whatever is necessary to maintain the family bonds. Despite, or perhaps because of his inability to articulate, Tom's character is full of pathos and eloquence. A party held at the Stark house, gets out of control and the ensuing violence sets off a series of echoes which result in further tragedy and loss. This is a family and a community which is dirt poor in almost every sense. The level of cruelty and callousness between parents and their children is almost casual in its depiction. There is hope expressed through the relationship between Tom and his young girlfriend, also damaged but with a strong spirit. Although understated there is a feeling that they might just be able to slough off their sad legacy and make a better life for themselves. Having travelled extensively in British Columbia and knowing a little of its patterns of immigration and social problems, I found this a fascinating and lyrical evocation of the forgotten families eeking out an existance in the remoter reaches of the Fraser Valley and the foothills of the Monashee mountains.
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